Jennifer Garner

CHICAGO – Have we reached such a politically-correct place in our culture that drinking excessively can’t be seen as humorous even in a dumb comedy? How else to explain the boneheaded decision to basically make the legendary character of Arthur Bach (played by Dudley Moore in the Oscar-winning original and Russell Brand in the potential-Razzie-winning remake) into a man-child instead of an actual drunk? That decision (along with a few others) sunk “Arthur,” recently released on Blu-ray and DVD, before it even shot a frame. Although the actual production didn’t help.

CHICAGO – Critics were pretty hard on the remake of “Arthur” starring Russell Brand, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner, and Greta Gerwig (including our very own Patrick McDonald, who gave the film 2 stars out of five) and the film relatively bombed at the box office, opening in 2nd place to “Hop” and making only $12.7 million in its first frame with a lower per-screen average than “Hanna” or “Soul Surfer.” Now you can compare the new version to the award-winning original and its dreadful sequel in a 2-movie collection, now on Blu-ray.

CHICAGO – There are many problems inherent in film remakes, starting with comparisons to the original source. The first “Arthur,” while not a classic, did have a warm, funny story and Dudley Moore’s title performance. The current remake has none of that.

CHICAGO – Clearly conceived as something like an American version of “Love Actually,” Garry Marshall’s “Valentine’s Day” is an unqualified disaster, a film that’s only interesting in that it may hold the record for the most household names sucked into one horrible film.

CHICAGO – There are so many concepts and clever ideas in “The Invention of Lying,” now available on Blu-ray and DVD, thanks to Ricky Gervais’ skills as a writer that his abilities as an actor and director don’t really know what to do with them. The script for this witty comedy is interesting enough to make it worth a rental but it sometimes moves at an awkward pace and never builds like it might have with a more experienced director.

CHICAGO – In our latest comedy edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 15 admit-two passes up for grabs to the Chicago screening of “The Invention of Lying”!

CHICAGO – Here’s a perfect example of Hollywood filmmaking at its laziest. It’s difficult to imagine anyone in front of the camera or behind it breaking much of a sweat in their half-hearted attempt to satisfy a mainstream audience equipped with the lowest possible expectations.

CHICAGO – “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” is the cinematic blending of two familiar formulas: the “love, lose and then love again” framework of most romantic comedies with the idea of transforming ghosts from the classic “A Christmas Carol”.

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Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner) and Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) play foosball.

CHICAGO – This 29-image slideshow contains the official images from Warner Brothers’ “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,” starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Emma Stone, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Robert Forster, and Anne Archer. The film, directed by Mark Waters, opens on May 1st, 2009.

The color-pencil animated opening credit sequence for “Juno” has surfaced online thanks to its creator: Shadowplay Studio. I learned about this from a Dec. 27 post on /Film.